A Pearl Left Behind

But Li Siyi still had doubts, so she asked:

"Yet the giant trees that fill the secret realm's forests are all ordinary, with only a few traces of spiritual vitality at most. It seems..."

Su Yao shook his head and smiled.

"This secret realm must contain a Jia Wood spiritual object of superior quality. The Jia Wood in this secret realm is merely being accumulated for that spiritual object, to keep this Radiant Fire from burning the Jia Wood spiritual object to nothing."

When Li Siyi heard this, understanding suddenly dawned on her, and she nodded.

Seeing this, Liu Yunhe asked another question:

"May I ask the name of this fire?"

Su Yao smiled.

"If I remember correctly, this fire should be called the Azure Mysterious Already Crossing Flame."

"The Azure Mysterious Already Crossing Flame..." Liu Yunhe murmured to himself, as though savoring the name.

Seeing this, Su Yao explained:

"This fire's power is ordinary; it cannot compare to the Fallen Sun Joined Hearts Si Fire. But although it is a Radiant Fire, it is also mingled with a few traces of the profound properties of Blazing Fire, making it even more wondrous. Otherwise, the arrangements in this secret realm would not have been enough to suppress the ferocity of its Radiant Fire."

With that, he took two steps forward and paid the two no further attention. He wondered what pill required such measures to refine.

Moreover, there were obvious restrictions on this Pill Furnace, and it was not something he could open. No wonder the True Lord had not mentioned this pill earlier.

He pondered it briefly, but could not think of an answer, so he gave it no further thought.

Then he headed in the direction he had sensed.

The two people and two birds followed behind.

Su Yao came to the rear right of the Alchemy Chamber, where there was a small door.

With some trepidation, he opened it.

Perhaps because it was quite old and made of ordinary materials, the door had no formations or restrictions set on it.

It creaked as it opened.

Once the door was open, Su Yao saw what lay inside and instantly stopped moving.

Behind him, the two felt uneasy when they saw this, but the door was too small, and Su Yao's figure completely blocked it.

They hurriedly readied their Law Artifacts.

Su Yao sensed their movements behind him and knew he had lost his composure somewhat, so he said:

"Put them away. I was just surprised for a moment."

With that, he ducked his head and entered the room.

Only then did the two let out long breaths and put away their Law Artifacts.

Inside, Su Yao looked around. The room seemed to have been used by a boy attendant, and it was not large.

There was a couch and a low cabinet.

And... a half-open nest made of all kinds of feathers.

In the nest was a giant egg streaked with various gray patterns.

It was about half as tall as Su Yao.

"This must be it," Su Yao murmured.

He used his Law Power to lift it and headed outside.

Outside, Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi were surprised to see a giant egg half a person's height float out of the little room.

Little Red and Little Orange, on the other hand, unwittingly showed a hint of delight at the sight.

A moment later, Su Yao also emerged from the little room.

Looking at the egg, Liu Yunhe hurriedly asked:

"Daozi, what is this egg?"

Beside him, Li Siyi also looked curious.

Su Yao shook his head.

"I need to examine it first."

With that, he poured streams of Law Power into the egg.

They traveled ceaselessly along its patterns.

The two watched Su Yao's brows alternately knit tightly and relax into a faint smile, and grew even more curious about what the egg was.

As Su Yao sent his Law Power through it to examine it, he felt a chill sweep over him, followed by a rush of Fu Water Qi.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Su Yao stopped his examination. He already had an answer in mind, and he looked at the two of them.

"Judging by what I just found and the texts in the temple, this egg probably belongs to a Fu Water variant..."

He paused.

"A Shengyu."

Li Siyi murmured:

"The Shengyu... has always been regarded as a beast of calamity..."

Liu Yunhe thought for a moment, then took up the conversation:

"There is a bird, shaped like a pheasant and red in color, called the Shengyu. It eats fish, and its cry sounds like 'lu.' When it appears, the land is beset by great floods."

Su Yao nodded slightly.

"The Shengyu is a variant born of heaven and earth, belonging to the path of Fu Water. Whenever one appears, lakes and great marshes overflow."

He pondered briefly, then looked at the two and continued slowly:

"Water, as a thing, has the nature of moistening and flowing downward, and the virtue of circulating everywhere. Yet the virtues of water beneath heaven each have their own kind: Returning Water is the sea, vast and boundless; Gui Water is the rain, pouring down upon all beneath heaven. Fu Water, however, is neither Ren nor Gui. It is water before it is distinguished, the source before it is divided."

At this point, his tone grew more solemn.

"Fu is the great marsh. It does not reveal its currents, yet holds the gathered waters of a hundred rivers; it does not flaunt its light, yet the myriad kinds of life are born within it. In form, it may be a lake, an abyss, or a marsh; in essence, it gathers, stores, receives, and contains. It is water in its vastness."

Li Siyi asked again:

"But the great lakes and marshes that belong to Fu Water are all in Jiangnan... yet there is such a thing here too?"

Liu Yunhe shook his head.

"The Cang Water Sect cultivated the virtue of water, so it isn't surprising. Demons have long lifespans to begin with, let alone a variant of heaven and earth like this. I imagine the Cang Water Sect intended to raise it to guard the sect's secret realm."

Su Yao shook his head.

"If that were so, it should not be here. Putting it in a pool or pond at the foot of the mountain would have been better than here."

He looked toward the little room and smiled.

"I imagine a boy attendant obtained it in secret, then feared that possessing a treasure would invite trouble and didn't know where to hide it. After thinking it over, he decided this was the best place-the darkness beneath the lamp."

He paused.

"After all, if a True Person of the Cang Water Sect had done it, that would be strange. This is the Alchemy Chamber, and with the Azure Mysterious Already Crossing Flame here, it would only damage the egg's foundation. When I examined it earlier, I found that it had already lost about thirty percent of its spiritual essence. If we had come any later, it would have been ruined. That is also why it still hasn't hatched after several thousand years."

Though he looked slightly puzzled when he finished speaking, he was overjoyed inwardly.

His greatest shortcoming at present was that he had too little Law Power.

Although his Law Power was not weak compared with that of his peers, he knew far too many profound Law Techniques, and it was nowhere near enough. Now that he had this, he could use it to form his third talisman.

It would probably be a talisman that increased Law Power. After all, this thing belonged to the path of Fu Water, and Fu Water embodied water's vastness.

Although its foundation was now damaged, he still had a way to deal with it. There were quite a few Fu Water spiritual objects in the temple; after all, Lake Encompassing Emptiness on Qixia Mountain was a place where Fu Water spiritual objects gathered.

One Fu Water spiritual object could be obtained every five hundred years.

And there were many great lakes in Nanzhao, where he had been before, so he imagined there were many related spiritual objects there as well.

He then looked at the two and waved his hand.

"I, your Daozi, am in a good mood today. Go and find a few sets of tables and chairs. We'll drink tea and enjoy the scenery outside the hall. We'll drink the 'Red Cloud Dan Buds' I brought down from Qixia Mountain."

Liu Yunhe smiled when he heard this.

"Pine mists and roosting clouds await the guest from afar; in rosy haze and drifting mist, the Dao body is nourished.

Red Cloud Dan Buds warm upon the brazier's flame; violet and mysterious clouds knock upon the Mysterious Gate.

Beneath a sky of hidden rosy clouds, the True Lord drinks; in one instant, heaven's secrets bring ten thousand ages of spring.

Of cypress leaves and rosy apricots I dare not speak; atop Purple Canopy Peak, the immortal and the true await."

Su Yao laughed heartily at this and waved his hand.

"Go on, go on."

The two assented, then turned and left.

Once they had gone, Su Yao approached the giant egg and murmured:

"Plant flowers with care, and they will not bloom; stick a willow twig in the ground by chance, and it grows into shade."

He lifted the giant egg with his Law Power and headed outside.

For now, it was best to find another place for the egg. The better its condition, the better the result should be when it hatched and was refined into a talisman in the future.